The princess and the criminal
by Rerotica
Summary: Once upon a time there was a princess, rich and wealthy as she was naive and bratty. On the other side of town lived a criminal, hardened by prejudice and raised on streed cred. One fine day, the princess and the criminal met and were bound by a spell...
1. Chapter 1

"Will Ayame, room 3-14 please report to the principal's office immediately."

The P.A system rang throughout the quiet classroom of 3-14 where students were writing their tests. The silence was broken, however, by the announcement from the office that had sent for Ayame. Not being a prompt nor disciplined class, there was a sudden outburst of murmurs and ruckus throughout.

There were the dumbfounded, "They sent for Ayame?"

Then there came the jokes... "Ooh, the top student's in trouble now!"

Of course, then there were people who decided to take advantage of the situation. "What's the answer for number five? Quick, you asshole, tell me!"

"Quiet!" The teacher screamed and banged her fist on the desk as the students snapped back into fake silence. "Ayame, you heard the announcement. Finish your test after lunch."

"Yes, miss." Ayame said obediently and put all her stationary away and handed her test to the teacher before straightening her kilt to go down. She wondered what she had done. Maybe it was one of her cousins or her mother who was there to come pick her up for an early appointment, or maybe it was just to go pick up some papers for her teacher. Pushing back her glasses that fell onto the bridge of her nose, Ayame sighed and ran down the tiled stairs to the office.

--

"Keep your hands off of the report cards, Bankotsu." The secretary snapped for what seemed like the millionth time, trying hard not to lose patience at the notorious braided boy who seemed oblivious that she was even talking to him.

"Whoa, who the hell is this shithead?" He muttered under his breath as he filed through the marks of 60s and 50s."This kid couldn't even get a job at a drive-thru."

"Don't swear in the office!" The secretary burst out, a purple vein protruding from her tight forehead. She stomped over and wiped all the report cards from the desk into a cardboard box that Bankotsu had taken them out from. "Young man, you really are going to get it one day and you won't be smiling then!"

"Just one question I'd like to ask you, miss." A seductive grin swept over his face, mischief twinkling in his lavender eyes. "I'd just like to know…"

She looked up behind her square framed spectacles, giving the least of her attention. "What?"

"Is your forehead naturally that tight, or are you a Botox bride?"

The secretary was about to curse loudly at him, and she would have if Ayame hadn't come striding into the room. As she regained her poise with great patience, Ayame stood on the other side of the room, her curious green eyes observing the office for her kin. The secretary stood up and pointed a trembling finger towards the principal's office, signalling both of them to get in there before Bankotsu did anything else that would break her.

"Why, hello, Ayame." the boy winked suggestively. She gave a slightly snobbish snort which erased the grin off his face.

Ayame stared at the braided boy before she realized who he was; he was Bankotsu, the boy who was well known as the school's juvenile delinquent. He was always out of uniform; and right then and there wasn't any different from anytime else. His shirt was untucked, His collar not buttoned up, and his name tag was nowhere to be seen. And what was with the silver chain with the dog tag? Ugh. How cliché.

"Ladies first." Bankotsu said as he strided over to the door to the principal's office in two bounds and held the door open for Ayame like a polite gentleman. As Ayame hesitantly walked through the door, Bankotsu gave the secretary a wink and a smile.

"What I meant by Botox bride," he said, "was you're looking pretty foxy for a lady hitting her fifties."

--

"Please, take a seat." Principal Kaede said as she shuffled through some papers and held out a yellow sheet to Ayame and a purple sheet to Bankotsu. Her graying hair was tied tightly into a bun and she was dressed up so businesslike that anyone could have mistaken her for a shrewd businesswoman. "Ayame, I wish to comment you on your lack of community service hours…"

"Excuse me?" Ayame replied with a tint of aggressiveness to her voice.

"Your graduation requires community service hours." Kaede sighed. "All two hundred of them over the three years of high school. And you barely have twenty, Miss Ayame. You'd better live it up soon or else when graduation comes, you'll be forced to watch your peers graduate while you stay back."

"But I did do them!" she complained. "I worked over three HUNDRED hours at my father's store during the summers, and don't tell me they don't count!"

"They don't." Principal Kaede said without any sympathy. "Any other person would have had to be paid for that job. What you did was merely help out at your father's store, not volunteer."

"Sucker." Bankotsu snickered to himself, but quickly plastered on an intended fake smile as Kaede turned her words on him.

"And you, Bankotsu, I don't know how you managed to get through the first and second year. But your grades are dropping, this is senior year, and I want YOU to buckle up."

Bankotsu said nothing and suddenly turned interested in curling the tip of his braid with his finger. Kaede went into a coughing fit, stopped, and continued.

"However, it has come to my attention that you have already registered your two hundred service hours in the first year, and that is to be praised. Now, don't get a smug face, Bankotsu. I will pair you up with one of our academically smart students to help you to pull up your marks by the time you graduate."

"…and who…might that be…?" Bankotsu questioned slowly as his head snapped up and turned abruptly a finger towards Ayame's direction."

"Her!" Bankotsu bellowed as he pointed a finger to Ayame.

"Him!" Ayame screamed just as loudly as she pointed a finger to Bankotsu.

"Yes, exactly what I was thinking." Kaede said calmly at the dumbfounded teens. "Of course, Ayame, you will help Bankotsu until the rest of the year until I see some progress in his marks; don't make that face at me, girl, I will give you service hours for it as well. Bankotsu, you will be able to pull up your marks, so there's a fair deal for you."

"Don't I get anything?" Bankotsu complained harshly.

Kaede locked her fingers and said, "Your reward will be a good report card and a promising future. I think that should be more than good enough for you. Now away you two go."

--

Taking off her glasses and wiping the glaze of sweat that trickled of her forehead, Ayame walked dazed out of the office with Bankotsu striding a few steps behind her. As both walked up to the third floor back to their separate classes, Ayame let out a sigh. Unfortunately, Bankotsu had heard and decided to comment against it.

"So you don't want to teach me, do you?" he growled menacingly. Ayame turned and shot back,

"I don't want to teach you, you don't want me teaching you. We're square, I should say."

"Well, well, I can't wait for you to fill my worthless brain with all your scholarly knowledge, Oh great one." came his sarcastic reply. "Seriously, I have better things to do than having to hang around at this shithole all day."

"Then why don't you just drop out already and save yourself trouble?" Ayame said snappishly, not giving much of a thought to it. Bad choice of words, she thought, for the next thing she knew she was slammed against a wall and Bankotsu's fist was next to her head. With a leer he snickered.

"How the hell would you know, you and your rich and privileged life?" He sniffed her hair deeply that made her shiver. 'Wearing Channel, toting your Gucci backpack. You don't know the meaning 'life's a bitch,' do you? Having everything handed to you on a platter, it must be a hell of a thrill. No?" he said quite matter-of-factly, spitting his words like venom through firmly clenched teeth. Ayame regretted ever responding to him and prayed that a teacher would come and spot them. No one came. After a long, eerie silence Bankotsu broke it.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"It's thirty minutes to the bell." she answered, watching him shuffling in his bag. Taking out a stash of papers, he tied them together with elastic, took out a cigarette and put it behind his ear. He handed the messy bunch to Ayame and said,

"Take that to Room 3-7. That's for my teacher."

And he went down the stairs without looking back. A while passed before all she heard were the buzzing of flies. She turned her heel and walked to Bankotsu's class thinking,

'Fine, if I can't change any of this, I might as well do this shit!' Ayame grunted and looked at the stash of papers, and couldn't help but snort as she looked at a huge stain of what looked like coffee. Her face wrinkled at the juvenile state of his work.

Then she thought for a moment and cocked her eyebrow. '... HOW in the world does he know I'm wearing Channel?'

--

Bankotsu rushed down the stairs, leaving the dazed redheaded nerd gaping after him. Every step of the way downstairs made the empty hallways ring with his stomping and panting. His lungs felt as if they would burst.

He needed a fix. A cigarette. Now. Right now. He couldn't stand that yuppie-spawn bitch frolicking before him, her and her tra-la-laing ditzy friends, and her sarcastic 'oh I'll teach you because you're a lowlife and you don't know any better, tut tut!"

He was barely out the door as he lit up his first joint and brought it up to his mouth. As he walked behind the garbage can, he stopped abruptly at the sight of another person already puffing away on his turf. His turf! Any jackass knew that no one smoked here but him. A surge of annoyance came into mind and Bankotsu intended to know who it was. Even before he could creep up on the son of a bitch the person turned around, dark hair whipping against the wind, charcoal eyes flashing.

"Bankotsu!" Jakotsu said out of excitement and received a slap across the head instead. Taking Jakotsu's cigar out of his hand and crushing it on the ground, Bankotsu gave a glare.

"You know better not to smoke." He muttered. "Not with what you have, anyways."

"Sorry, I just wanted to try it out once, that was all. I didn't really like the taste anyway; it tasted shit bitter anyway."

"Take your puffer, you never know. Come on." He said as Jakotsu fumbled around his beige backpack for his aid. Taking in three hearty inhales, Jakotsu smiled.

"This is much better than that joint. You should quit too, with the amount of smokes you blaze I might as well be smoking just as much as you do."

Bankotsu smirked. "I can't help it. Seriously. Picked up those pamphlets, went on the diet that Suikotsu offered me, went on a smoke joint strike with Ren, nothing worked. At least Ren's keeping it up quite well." He took in another puff. "It's been attached to me for about five years. What can I do?"

With a slap of the hand Jakotsu flung Bankotsu's cancer stick away into the sandpit. He looked up blankly and said, "You know, you could quit."

"Well…"

"For me?" the younger pleaded.

After a short thought, the older laughed. "Fine," he responded firmly, digging his heel into the splint that was still burning. "For you. Let's go home, it's your turn to make dinner and I'm fucking hungry."

--

Alright, maybe Jakotsu was a bit of a child, maybe a bit more so than the people his age . But boy, could that kid whip up a nice dinner and desert. Bankotsu inhaled the sweet smell of what smelled like tempura noodles and smiled as his stomach growled.

"Go call the rest of them, will you?" Jakotsu yelled across the kitchen to Bankotsu.

He lazily set aside the book he was reading and instead of going to get them, yelled for Suikotsu and Renkotsu to come eat dinner. Of course, it wasn't really necessary for them to be yelling to each other, for the little 2-room apartment block-home at the top of the building wasn't that big of a space, but the fact that it was still homey and cozy didn't change.

"Hey." Renkotsu said, entering the kitchen in only a pair of cargos. Jakotsu stared for a moment and pointed to the laundry outside the block.

"Fresh T-shirts. Grab any." He said as he expertly carried four steaming bowls of noodles and set them on the table. Suikotsu came in the room shortly after and set himself down and sighed deeply, his mind on the state of paranoia.

"What's the matter?" Bankotsu inquired.

"Something smells like a chick. It's hurting my head."

Jakotsu pointed to himself. "It's my perfume, sorry."

"Channel?"

"Yeah."

"You're weird." Suikotsu raised his eyebrows.

"You're a dick." Jakotsu said.

"Thanks."

They ate in awkward silence, only the sounds of slurping noodles and the radio turned on to a popular channel. Bankotsu felt obligated to say something.

"So, guys, what is up?" and he looked at Renkotsu, but all three started talking at once.

"My new physics prof is a bitch." Renkotsu said.

"I'm trying out for the school play tomorrow." Jakotsu said.

"Pass the salt." Suikotsu said.

Bankotsu nodded at everyone in approval and swallowed deeply. He felt that he should say something about that nerd girl having to tutor him or he would burst from the built up anger. "Guys?" he said, and suddenly all the attention was fixated upon him.

"Well…"

"Yes?" said Renkotsu.

"Well…damnit, I'll make this short. I'm gonna be tutored by a girl at our school tomorrow, so on Mondays and Fridays I'm going to be home late. Alright?"

Again, all three started talking at the same time and this time Bankotsu lifted a hand to shut them all up. He pointed at Renkotsu, as in the silence he had his hand up.

"Why?" he asked. "I mean, not 'why,' but why her? You know, we could help you like you helped us in english."

"You know what, that is a good idea. Try telling that to our uptight principal, you know how she is."

"Is it only for this week?" Suikotsu asked in between slurps of noodle.

"For the whole year." Bankotsu groaned. "That means that I still have about 51 weeks left to go. Fuck, I hate this bullshit." He complained.

At this point, Jakotsu raised a slender, feminine finger and looked blankly. "Yes?" Bankotsu sounded impatient.

Akward silence followed.

"It's nothing important, never mind." Jakotsu said quietly.

"I said pass the salt!" Suikotsu barked.

--

"Get out!" yelled Ayame. "Out, Kouga! Get out! You two, too! I can't stand it!" she threw a huge tantrum as she tried to punch her oldest cousin with no success. Kouga grabbed her by the arms and waited until she calmed down, her face scrunched into displeasure.

"Kouga, I really want to be alone."

"Your problem is mine, Ayame. I want you to remember that." He said in a calm voice and cleared his throat. Letting loose his grip, he looked her in the eye as Hakaku and Ginta leaned against the girl's bed. "Now, if you have a problem, I'll listen to you."

Saying nothing, Ayame pulled out the sheet that had been given to her and handed it to Kouga. As he skimmed over it, taking in all the information, he stared at her. "Wait, is this what you're upset over? Having to teach somebody?"

"Yes."

Kouga sighed. "Ayame, are you high? You love teaching."

"Yeah, sure, but not when my pupil's Bankotsu."

"Wait, who?"

"Bankotsu." She snorted. "The guy with the braid, you know? The guy in your class? With the dog tag and that smirk?" Ayame nodded slowly as Kouga's eyes lit up with a sense of remembrance.

"No one really knows where he came from. I'd say he's a few years older than we are, actually. He should be in University by now, but what the hell. He screwed up a few times, I guess."

"Shit. I don't want anything to do with this guy." She whined.

"Look." Kouga said with a reassuring smile. "If the guy tried to take the piss out of you, just call me and I'll call up my boys and go beat his ass. Comprende?"

"Yeah, whatever. Comprende." She mumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

_Yuppie: Young Urban Professional. A person in his/her 20's who holds a professional job (doctor, lawyer, engineer, scientist, professor, etc…) and, stereotypically, lives a comfortable and luxurious life with high pay_

_--_

It was something that he felt he was born to do, to act upon the stage. Feeling the cold, hard but welcoming platform under his feet, Jakotsu minded the younger ones who were watching him in awe as he performed a miming trick, switching over to a graceful dancer, a mental patient, a posh city slicker then to a nobleman of the early renaissance, all done with the appropriate gestures and voices.

Eyeing his drama teacher who had been eyeing him for an audition ever since he was in middle school, Jakotsu flashed a smile. He knew he would get the part, no doubt about it. As he finished off his performance by mimicking a spoiled princess, a great deal of applause came from the other impressed older students, many of them twinkling in their eyes with anticipation of the new arrival.

"Well, that was my most humble performance," Jakotsu said his mock speech in a foreign accent, creating more laughter once again. "And I hope that I have inspired some of you to follow in the footsteps of not any other actor you see in the movies, let alone mine, and instead create your own footsteps so that others can see what you have accomplished."

--

"Excellent work, Jakotsu. I really do appreciate you giving this presentation to the others. You're just as good as I heard from your former teachers, perhaps even better." The teacher placed his hands on the desk in his office. "And as for the audition for the play, I don't really think that will be necessary."

"Oh, but I do, sir. After all, me getting the part without even auditioning would be most unthinkable! Don't you think so? I know the older students would be mostly displeased."

"Very well then. Let's have it." He shuffled through a portfolio and pulled out several sheets of paper. "It says here that you are trying out for…let's see here…"

"Henry Drummond, sir." Jakotsu pointed out. "I'm trying out for Henry Drummond."

"That's right. Let's see the action."

Jakotsu cleared his throat and threw on an old, ragged overcoat and a pair of glasses borrowed from Suikotsu. He opened his arms wide and started to pace the room, and soon enough Henry Drummond came to life and he was speaking to the judge, the persecutor, the attorney, the defendant, the jury and all the spectators.

"Can't you understand?" he spat. "That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it."

He made a very dramatic pause as he glared at the invisible audience, charisma twinkling in his eyes. He pounded his fist into his open palm and yelled, "And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding."

By this point he turned to the wall, talking to the invisible judge most mighty. "And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!" and he slammed both his hands onto the most nearby desk.

To his surprise, a trickle of sweat dropped from his forehead and Jakotsu wiped it away with the back of his hand. He smiled and turned to his teacher.

"How was it?"

"You weren't you." He said, quite pleased. "You were Henry Drummond. Welcome to the cast, Drummond. You did a hell of a job."

--  
Bankotsu found himself heading to the vending machines once again. It had been quite a day without even a single joint, and his stomach was already bitching for food to make up for it. He craved chocolate milk. The money in his pocket, he went to the nearest hallway, gave his money to the machine and got his milk. He was too busy drinking it that he didn't see the figure coming up behind him.

"OH MY GOD!" A hyped-up Jakotsu squealed. "I GOT THE PART!"

"Are you serious?" Bankotsu exclaimed. "I don't believe it! That's fuckin' awesome!"

"Thank you! Oh my god, I'm so happy; I can't wait until we start practicing!"

"Well I'd come to watch you, but unfortunately I have to be taught by the little snobby rich bitch…"

Bankotsu didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence as he was backhanded in the back of the head by an unknown. He gnarled and whipped around angrily. "What the hell, faggot!"

Kouga stared calmly. "I don't want anyone saying shit about my cousin, retard…especially coming from someone like you."

"Oh ho, you were the princess' cousin, were you?" Bankotsu growled. "Well I never knew. I should have, though, seeing that you both got the same retard genes. I hope no one in your family got into the whole idea of fucking each other, that'd probably take the whole…"

Bankotsu was fisted hard in the face by a very angry Kouga. "I'm gonna cave your face in, you prison bitch!" He yelled in between punches that hit some and missed some. However, he flew back and banged into the lockers and a garbage can as Jakotsu landed a perfect kick across his chest, a wild scowl on his face. By this time, a considerable crowd had gathered and no one in their right mind had summoned a teacher.

"Don't touch, bastard."

"You shouldn't be here, flaming homo." Kouga teased with a smirk on his lips. "You should be in middle school, where you belong."

"I have a right to be here as much as you do." he defiantly said.

"Well, you also have the right to move to an all-male school if you want to. Tell me, which one of you is the pillow-biter? Is it braid boy here?"

"Fuck you!" Bankotsu yelled and attempted a fake punch. As Kouga blocked it, he flung his stronger left hand and drove it into his opponent's jaw but received a blow to the abdomen at the same time.

"Hurt much?"

"You wish, you piece of shit." Looking at the crushed milk carton on the floor that was dribbling itself of chocolate milk, he glared at Kouga. "Which reminds me, I never got to finish my drink." He said slowly. "I strongly suggest you make up for this."

Kouga smirked. "How much do you need?" he said as he pulled out his wallet and started counting bills. "Do you need this much?" a few bills were flung and fluttered on the floor. "Do you need more?" Kouga kept going as he kept flinging bills from his wallet. "How about this much?"

Bankotsu kept quiet, not saying a word. By this time a small pile of bills had scattered themselves over the open space between the duo, and no one in the student crowd dared to call a teacher or to pick up the bills. They knew better.

"How much is this?" Kouga closed his wallet. "I'm sure with this you can pay your rent for the next year or so. AND you'll have enough left over for your drinks."

Kouga walked away, triumphant and victorious; a very sordid way of winning, but victorious nonetheless. Bankotsu stormed away in the opposite direction with Jakotsu following. Even as the students scattered, no one dared touch the money.

Later that moment, a passing custodian became extremely lucky.

--

Inuyasha looked in the mirror, humming a random tune to himself as he checked himself out in the mirror quite self-consciously. The outfit was perfect, his breath was minty fresh, and his hair was still a bit damp from the late shower he had just taken. But remembering that Kagome had always loved his hair, wet or dry, he decided to skip the blow dryer and looked for his shoes. Just as he was getting ready to head out the door, he felt someone staring at him from the back.

"Where are you going?" Sesshomaru inquired icily. He had a file folder tucked under one arm, a coffee mug in the other hand. Slight dark pigments circled under his eyes. "Get your ass back to bed."

Inuyasha sighed and didn't bother to look back at his brother. "Look, I told you this afternoon that I was going out with my girlfriend, alright?"

"No you didn't."

"Oh yeah, I did. It was you who wasn't listening because you were working on your work."

"I have a job to hold, alright? And I have a patient that needs much medical attention. After all, I DO make the money, pay the bills and still have the leftover cash to buy your niceties. If father hadn't forced me to let you move in while he went off to Berlin, I'd kick your poor little ass out to the street."

"I'm going out anyways. Later, yuppie." Inuyasha started for the doorknob as Sesshomaru kept it shut with his hand.

"No you aren't, dear brother." He said, looking down at his younger counterpart. "You're supposed to be in bed. It's almost twelve, and I don't want you going out."

"Look…" the silver-haired younger sighed in disdain once again. "I haven't seen my girlfriend for, like, weeks. Alright? She called last night and told me she was back from Hong Kong, so she wants to meet me. Plus," he said with a contemptuous grin, "we haven't done it in awhile. Does it make you angry that you haven't gotten any in a long ti…"

"**GET THE FUCK OUT!"** Sesshomaru was not one to lose his cool, but hearing the damned brat talking to him like that made him boil over. He practically threw Inuyasha out into the hallway by the collar of his silly shirt and locked the door with a huff. He then groaned in disbelief and took a long sip out of his now cold coffee mug. He had let go of his file folder and all the papers had fallen out.

'Oh, I'll whip that twerp just right. Just wait until father comes back from Berlin!' he fumed at the thought as he picked up all the papers. He set them on the mahogany dinner table and started to head for his room when he remembered he had forgotten to pick up the evening newspaper. He rolled his eyes, unlocked the door and opened it.

He found himself facing Kagura, his next door neighbour. She was in her bathrobe, her silky ebony hair piled up into a wet towel, her flawless face graced with a small bruise on her left cheek. She jumped slightly at the sight of him.

"Oh, um…hi, Sesshomaru." She stuttered. "How are you?"

"I'm pretty fine, just getting the paper for today." He said coolly.

"So…what are you doing?" he asked as he set aside the advertisements into the recycling bin.

"Oh, I'm just reading…the news." She said. "I have a habit of reading everything in the hallway, you see. It's kind of funny, but Naraku always gets angry when I'm not in there making him a sandwich or cleaning the closet." She joked.

"Naraku?" Sesshomaru asked. "Who might he be?"

"Oh, he's my live-in boyfriend." She slightly blushed. "I live with him and his cousin."

Sesshomaru perked his ear to hear more, for he was very interested. But that seemed like that was all she was going to tell him, so he gave up. He patiently waited for her to finish the paper just in case she had anything left to say when a male voice called for her, making her flinch.

"Coming!" she called back. "Well then, I guess I'll see you around."

"I guess so." He said and watched her go.


End file.
